Other Life: For Nathalie Richard, getting into the hall of fame was just one of many rewards
This is our Friday online feature, called Other Life, which focuses on what financial professionals do when not at their desks serving clients and managing portfolios. If you have a hobby, interest, or achievement that you'd like to share, please email [email protected]
With a long track record in the sport of rally car racing, Nathalie Richard is no stranger to the thrill of high-speed, pedal-to-the-metal competition. But like many other racers, the financial advisor and certified financial planner wasn’t exactly born with high-octane fuel running through her veins.
“After finishing my undergrad degree, I left Halifax to work for a mutual fund company’s head office in Toronto,” recalls Richard, the president and owner of INSIGHT Wealth Management in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She’s also a mutual fund representative with PEAK Investment Services and one of Wealth Professional’s 2022 5-Star Leading Women in Wealth.
“My brother, who was living in Vancouver at the time, got into the sport of rallying and I had no idea what that was,” she says.
As a competitor, Richard’s brother would travel all over North America. She decided to watch one of his races in Charlevoix, Quebec – and was instantly hooked.
Rally car racing is a heavily male-dominated arena – much like the wealth industry – but Richard didn’t let that slow her down. In two weeks, she went from being an excited spectator to becoming her brother’s team manager; a year later, she was co-driving for him when his regular co-driver was unable to make it.
Her passion was supercharged when she moved to Australia for her post-graduate studies. At the time, rally car racing was much bigger Down Under compared to North America, so she was able to continue competing. About four years later, she moved back home and joined the professional scene as a member of Subaru Rally Team Canada.
“One thing about rallying that people don’t necessarily understand is that it’s absolutely a team sport,” Richard says. “The most of exciting part of rallying is knowing that you complete a stage and everyone on the team did their job perfectly.”
Competing in the sport, she explains, requires effort and coordination worthy of the A-Team. Even a slight mistake by the driver, co-driver, or mechanics could have huge consequences. But by the same token, she says crossing the finish line after a fantastic run is a high beyond compare.
Over the course of her professional career, Richard has been North American Rally Co-Driving champion 10 times, Canadian Ladies’ champion nine times, the Canadian Rally Co-Driving champion five times. She’s also the only two-time Rally Triple Crown Champion, having won the Canadian, US and North American titles in 2004 and 2010.
As one of history’s most successful Canadian rally competitors, Richard was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2020. While she’s truly honoured and humbled by the recognition, she says the rewards from her time in the sport go far beyond that.
“I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot for racing and I love to travel. Aside from traveling internationally, I’ve been to small towns and back roads all over North America that I surely never would’ve seen otherwise,” she says. “I’ve also made a ton of good friends from around the world.”
Her experience in rally car racing has also equipped her with critical skills and abilities for her current work as an advisor, including time management, communication, big-picture thinking, multitasking, and leadership skills. Being process-oriented and somewhat nerdy, she says, are also vital.
“You have to be driven to succeed, organized, determined, and proactive. You also have to sometimes act as a psychologist!” Richard adds. “Relationships and your ability to work with people are key in both areas but, as I said before, teamwork is crucial.”
